boo at the zoo

A few days ago we took the girls to the zoo to their special halloween thing they have called Boo at the Zoo.

Rebecca, aka Wonder Woman, had a blast having people call her Wonder Woman (she would say stuff like, "Yep, you got my name right!" or "Wow, they really think I'm Wonder Woman!" when people would call her that.  She's so funny.

Rachel, on the other hand, who insisted on being a witch this year, even though we don't really have a witch costume (and she didn't really want me to buy anything special when I DID offer!) got upset at one point and said, "How come everyone is talking about Rebecca's costume, and not mine?"  It made me sad, but right after that someone said, "Wow, look, it's Wonder Woman!  And look, a witch, too!" and that made her smile that someone noticed.  She's still the cutest witch I know, even if her costume isn't all that original....

mourning

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=charles-breeden&pid=172945156&fhid=5503

He was one of the smartest men I knew.  He's always been one of my biggest cheerleaders, helping me with sports, coaching my basketball team with my dad, sitting on the sidelines at my track meets, helping me with math and science homework, cheering me on in whatever I've done.  

Growing up he took me on a number of trips, and I have so many memories of the places we went together.  The first time I saw the Grand Canyon was with him.  We went to Disney World a number of times.  No matter where we stayed, he made sure I had a pool to swim in, because he knew I loved to swim and dive.  They are all trips I'll never forget.

He called me "Wendy Jane."  No one else calls me that.

My grandpa was a big reason why I've continued writing this blog.  I don't think very many people read it anymore, but he always did, and loved seeing the girls' pictures and hearing about their lives.  He was the blog's biggest fan.  A lot of times I would write, even when I didn't have a lot to say, just because I knew he would be checking and want to hear something about them!  

We lost him on Friday.

I love you, Grandpa.  I love how much you loved my girls and me.  I will miss you.

Family fun

We took a trip this weekend to the farm where we've gone several times over the last few years.  The girls were too busy having fun to notice that it was windy and freezing cold!  They had a great time.

Wonder Woman

I've been searching and searching for a Wonder Woman costume for Rebecca for weeks.  She wanted to be her for Halloween, and a friend had a costume she could borrow, but I really wanted to find her one of her own so she could play dress up whenever she wanted in it.  I knew I'd get my money's worth out of it, but I also didn't want to pay full price, because they're expensive.  But not only are they expensive, but they're also hard to find.   Especially gently used, which is what I was looking for.  No one seems to be into Wonder Woman.  Lots of Superman, Supergirl, Batman, etc, but no Wonder Woman.  But I finally won one in an ebay auction, and it arrived today (after Rebecca asking me every single day if it had come yet).  

When she got up from her nap, I had it all laying out on the table for her to see.  She was more than thrilled.....ecstatic!  She's had it on all afternoon and evening, except when we made her take it off to eat dinner.

I need to fix the boot coverings--they're too big--but otherwise, it fits great (I was worried it might not fit).  She's in heaven.

catching up

I feel like I'm constantly playing catch up lately.  Things feel so busy that I get behind on everything, and then it takes a day to catch up on something.  Last weekend I caught up on laundry.  Wednesday I caught up on some cleaning I'd been wanting to do forever (there's still tons to clean, but this was cleaning out the fridge, freezer, and pantry, which really needed it, and I'd been putting off for months). I've been trying to catch up with various friends.  Catching up on errands....you name it, I'm playing catch up.  So here I am, playing catch up on my blog.

I guess fall always feels like this, to some extent, but this year it's harder to keep all of my ducks in a row.  Rachel's busier, so I'm always running places, it seems, plus I'm working two days a week, which adds to my to do list on the other days of the week.  My job has required lots of different trainings, too, so I've been trying to knock those out.  I have two more nights in a couple of weeks that I'll be gone for that, and then I can be done with that for awhile.  Whew!

We had to start a Google calendar online that my husband and I can both access, because we have so much going on that we each need to consult it before we add something, so he was calling me and asking, "What's going on on such and such a day?"  Now we can each just look there and figure it out and it's working well....as long as we remember to add the new stuff to the calendar!

And our lives are definitely less busy than most!  I don't know how families do it where both mom and dad work full time, and kids are in sports and dance and music lessons, and so forth.  Rachel only has two activities and that feels like a lot.  I wish she could do dance and music, because she'd love them, but I honestly don't know how I'd handle it all.

So.....catching up.....  Rachel is loving school.  I think she'd be happy anywhere, but she does love her new school.  Lately she's discovered a love for geography.  She's always loved maps and so forth, but she's been learning a lot of geography at school, and not only does she know everything she's supposed to know for school, but she's taken it upon herself to learn so much more, too.  I'm thrilled that she's interested and doing so well.  She's also really loving reading and is reading above and beyond what she's asked to read for school (which seems like a lot anyway).  She still struggles with math, and we spend LOTS of time on it in the evenings, doing her homework, and it will probably never be her favorite, but I'm happy that she has areas where she's excelling and feeling good about herself.  

Rebecca is still happy, snuggly, and TALKATIVE.  Man, can that girl talk.  She enjoys preschool, although she also loves it when she asks, "Do I have school today, Mommy?" And I tell her no.  She loves playing at home, but loves being at school, too.  Her teachers say she's doing great, and I'm thrilled to hear that she's listening and following directions, as I didn't really know how she'd do, being as talkative as she is.  She loves Super Heroes right now.  I guess she's been on a kick for awhile, all starting with The Incredibles a year or so ago, but she's also developed a love for Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman, especially.  She checks their books out at the library all the time and has been watching old episodes of Super Friends from the 70s.  Rebecca is to Super Heroes right now as Rachel used to be to princesses.  Obsessed.  Rebecca likes princesses, too, but not to the level that Rachel always loved them.  (Rachel still loves them, though she's a little more reluctant to say so now.  Her favorite show is still Sofia the First, though I doubt many other third graders have much interest in that show anymore, so she probably wouldn't tell many people that.)

We finally got the rooms switched, so Rebecca is in her new purple big girl room.  She plays in her room much more readily now, and she really likes being in there.  It means a lot less mess and noise downstairs (sometimes--there are times she'd much rather be with us downstairs).  There are still a few lingering projects, like putting her closet doors back on and putting stuff up on her new walls, but we're almost there.

So that's what's going on here.  Maybe it won't be so long before I can catch up on here again next time.